Juicers for foodstuffs, such as fruit or vegetables, are well known for separating juice from pulp. Such apparatus are highly popular because of their health and taste benefits. One of the main forms of juicer is a masticating juicer.
A masticating juicer is shown in FIG. 1. Such a juicer 1 comprises a housing 2 with a motor driven auger 3 which is rotatably mounted in the housing 2. The auger 3 has an outer face 4 with a helical screw or blade 5 extending therearound. A conically shaped sieve 6 is disposed in the housing 2 and is spaced from an inner surface 7 of the housing 2 to define a juice passageway 8 between the sieve 6 and the housing 7. A juice outlet 9 extends through the housing 2 from the juice passageway 8. The auger 3 is disposed in a conically shaped sieve 6, and is rotatable in the sieve 6 about its longitudinal axis. One end 10 of the housing is open to form a pulp outlet 11 and a fruit or vegetable inlet 12 is formed through the housing 2 to allow fruit or vegetable to be inserted into the juicer.
When a user inserts a fruit or vegetable into the housing 2 though the inlet 12 the fruit or vegetable is received between the housing inner surface 7 and the auger 3. The auger 3 is slowly rotated about its longitudinal axis by a manual handle or a motor (not shown), and the fruit or vegetable is crushed by the helical blade 5. The crushed fruit or vegetable is urged along the housing 2, towards the sieve 6 and the pressure imparted on the crushed pulp and juice increases as it is urged along the housing due to the area of the chamber 13 formed between the conically shaped sieve 6 and auger 3 reducing as the sieve converges towards the open end 10 of the housing 2. Therefore, the juice is urged to flow through the holes formed in the sieve 6 into the juice passageway 8, and out through the juice outlet 9. The pulp is then ejected from the housing 2 at the open end 10 through the pulp outlet 11.
However, one problem with a masticating juicer is that it is difficult and time consuming for a user to clean. In particular, the fibres of the pulp get stuck in the perforations of the sieve and so a user has to brush the sieve by hand to clean it.